Table 1 Effect of curcumin and curcumin analogues in colorectal cancer stem cells: in vitro and in vivo (mice models) studies
Study | Authors | Title | Journal and year | In vitro study | In vivo study (Mice) | Experimental design | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lin et al. | Targeting colon cancer stem cells using a new curcumin analogue, GO-Y030 [78] | British Journal of Cancer, 2011 | Yes | Yes | ALDH+/CD133+ colon CSC were isolated from DLD1, HCT-116, and SW480 and HT29 colon CSC by flow cytometry. These cells were treated with GO-Y030 and cell death was observed by flow cytometry and tumourspheres were counted in the differentiating medium. These cells of SW480 and HCT-116 were injected subcutaneously into mice models and observed | GO-Y030 inhibited STAT 3 phosphorylation, cell viability, and tumoursphere growth of CSC in vitro. It suppressed tumour growth of CSCs from both SW480 and HCT-116 colorectal cancer cell lines in vivo in mice model |
2 | Wang et al. | Novel micelle formulation of curcumin for enhancing antitumour activity and inhibiting colorectal cancer stem cells [79] | International Journal of Nanomedicine, 2012 | Yes | Yes | Cells obtained from cell cultures or xenograft tumours labeled with CD44-APC and CD24-FITC were treated with curcumin encapsulated in stearic acid-g-chitosan oligosaccharide (CSO-SA) and free curcumin and compared. Intravenously CSO-SA was injected into the mice | In vitro, CSO-SA showed anti-proliferative effects, 6× greater than free curcumin. In vivo, it suppressed tumour growth |
3 | Kanwar et al. | Difluorinated-curcumin (CDF): a novel curcumin analog is a potent inhibitor of colon stem-like cells [42] | National Institute of Health, 2011 | Yes | No | Chemo-resistant cells of HCT-116 and HT-29 treated with 5FUÂ +Â Ox alone or in combination with curcumin or CDF were compared. CDF showed more inhibition of transporter protein, growth factor receptor attenuation | CDF together with 5-FUÂ +Â Ox was more potent than curcumin in reducing CD44, CD166 in chemo-resistant colon cancer cells by inhibition of growth, apoptosis induction and disintegration of colonospheres |
4 | Nautiyal et al. | Combination of Dasatinib and curcumin eliminates chemo-resistant colon cancer cells [43] | Journal of Molecular Signalling, 2011 | Yes | No | Chemo-resistant cells of HCT-116 and HT-29 were treated with Dasatinib and curcumin. Dose comparison was done for Dasatinib with and without curcumin | The combination therapy of Dasatinib and curcumin showed better inhibition of cell growth, invasion, and colonosphere formation and reduced CSC population by reduced expression of CSC specific markers |
5 | Yinjie Yu et al. | Elimination of colon cancer stem-like cells by the combination of curcumin and FOLFOX [44] | Translational oncology, 2009 | Yes | No | FOLFOX-surviving colon cancer cells of HCT-116 line were used with media containing FOLFOX or curcumin or combination to analyze the protein levels of CD44 and CD166 | Treatment of FOLFOX surviving colon cancer cells with combination of curcumin and FOLFOX resulted in marked reduction of CSCs, reduction in colonospheres, increased expression of EGFR |
6 | Buhrmann et al. | Curcumin suppresses crosstalk between colon cancer stem cells and stromal fibroblasts in the tumour microenvironment: potential role of EMT [80] | PloS One, 2014 | Yes | No | HCT-116 was co-cultured with MRC-5 cells in a high density microenvironment to mimic the CSC/fibroblast interactions in vivo and treated with 5-FU and/or curcumin in concentration-dependent manner | Co-cultured HCT-116 and MRC-5 cells showed synergistic interaction, indicated by the expression of molecules/proteins involved in tumour progression. Curcumin interferes with the cross-talk by interfering with their regulations/expressions |
7 | Roy et al. | Difluorinated-curcumin (CDF) restores PTEN expression in colon cancer cells by down-regulating miR-21 [81] | PloS One, 2013 | Yes | No | Fu-OX resistant cells generated in HCT-116, HT-29 and SW620 and the expression of miR-21 and PTEN protein measured after CDF treatment Xenograft tissue from SCID mouse transfected with miR-21 was also analysed for the expression of miR-21 and PTEN for comparison purposes | CDF restores PTEN expression by down-regulating miR-21 expression in Fu-Ox resistant cells from the colonosphere population, which showed overexpression of miR-21 and decreased levels of PTEN prior to CDF treatment |